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Sudden Price Spike Demonstrates That, For Plasma Televisions, Size Matters
Electronics | Aug 20, 09
After weeks of price deterioration in the flat screen television market, we’re finally seeing signs of strength in at least one category of these items: very large plasmas.
Last week we saw an eleven percent jump in our PriceSCAN Plasma TV 60+ Inch Index, as noted in our latest press release. This rally is particularly dramatic as it comes in the wake of recent and significant price declines across most of the felt-screen television market, including large models (see “LCD’s Racing Plasmas In Early Summer Price Drop Derby” and “Big Plasmas, Big Price Drops”).
This hike could be due to some increase in demand after significant reductions in production and dealer inventory, compounded perhaps by the withdrawal of several large manufacturers from the plasma market.
To be sure, this price jump seems to be a high-end phenomenon, at least for now. But perhaps increasing confidence among more affluent consumers is evincing itself in some firming of demand for the largest plasmas; if so, this could be a thin ray of light emanating from the end of a very long tunnel.
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 3:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Voice Recognition GPS Prices Speak To Evaporating "State Of The Art" Premium
Electronics | Aug 6, 09
When it comes to buying cutting-edge consumer technology, waiting just a little while to buy might save you a fair bit of cash.
As pointed out in our latest press release, last week saw a three percent decline in the PriceSCAN.com Auto GPS – Voice Recognition Index, as compared with a two percent drop in our Auto GPS – Text to Speech Index. So far this year, we’ve seen the spread between these two indices increase from under one point to twenty-eight points.
At the leading edge of automotive GPS, voice recognition seems to be experiencing the sharp discounting of the “state of the art” premium that often occurs early in the life of a new technology. That voice recognition GPS prices are falling faster than those of the more mature text to speech GPS models would be explained by this, though the rapid decline of both may have more to do with flagging consumer demand. As I’ve noted before, this fall is all the more notable given it’s occurring despite higher gas prices, which make GPS more valuable since these units can reduce fuel wasted when lost or taking inefficient routes (“GPS Prices Continue Road Trip South”).
You get a sense of how sharp the GPS price decline has been by considering two models from Garmin, the Nuvi 855 and Nuvi 265WT, right now the most popular voice recognition and text to speech models on this site. The lowest vendor price for the former has dropped from over $450 in mid February to under $250 today.
Time Period: 2/16/2009 through 7/27/2009
Each tick mark represents one week
Red = High Price, Blue = Average Price, Green = Low Price
The latter’s same-period price decline has been more gentle, but it’s still down from around $350 last October to under $220 as of this writing.
Time Period: 10/6/2008 through 7/27/2009
Each tick mark represents one week
Red = High Price, Blue = Average Price, Green = Low Price
So those of you who grew up watching “Night Rider” and longing for the day your car would talk back to you may now find your dream fulfilled for a lot less. Of course, current models may not address you with the requisite level of sarcasm to allow you to channel your inner Hasselhoff; but perhaps you can find a way to get over that disappointment.
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 7:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
